WORSE THAN COVID

WORSE THAN COVID

IISATYANAAMII

WORSE THAN COVID

The coronavirus pandemic has definitely proved mankind’s frailty. Yet, overconfidence and arrogance in many people are still notoriously flagrant. They still believe that they are above the lot, that they are super-men and super-women, and continue to dominate themselves over everyone else. We did not need a virus to come teach us who we are. Nor do we need to be at the mercy of any oppressors. All we need is a spiritual steadfastness in this fragile physical existence. No arrogance, no egoism.

“Baraa huwaa toh kyaa huwaa, jaise per khajoor
Panthi ko cchayaa nahin, phal laage ati door”

All your arrogance is in vain, just like the date tree which is unreasonably very tall. Neither does it offer shade to the traveller, nor are its fruits in reach for anyone to pick. People who pose themselves as invincible believe that they deserve the highest respect and attention. Why would they be respected or attended to? They have no compassion for anyone, they have nothing to offer to anyone. Then, what is the point in being so eminent? Those people take pride in displaying their grandeur and at the same time enjoy their command on others. The COVID-19 pandemic, although a deadly plague, has still been unable to bend those towers. The spiritual practitioner, however, ignores them, and continues to focus on his path.

Some people even pretend to have shunned their attachment to wealth, but their ego is so strong that they resist that so-called detachment. Satguru Kabir Saheb explains to us that ego is the most dangerous enemy. It is ego which, when it takes over the mind, brings the person to a point where he thinks he is at the top of the world. But what if he is on top of the world?

“Maayaa taje to kyaa huwaa, maan tajaa na jaaye
Maan bare munivar gaye, maan saban ko khaaye”

What if you have been able to renounce wealth? It is your ego that you have to get rid of. Even the greatest men have become prey to it. The ego eats up one and all. What is strange, though, is that those who are eaten by their ego are unaware of their downfall. They enjoy their ego overpowering them. But in the end, they lose everything.

We do not need any blow to realise that we are not the ego. That we should not allow the ego to take control over us. We are all aware that even amid this plague, there are so many people who are still stuck in their self-pride. Let us not allow them to contaminate us. Because that contamination is more deadly than the COVID-19.

Mahant Jay Jaggessur, Kabir Association of Toronto.